Posts by Daphne Lughes

The Accelerated School garden is blooming with sunflowers! The flowers brought some beautiful color to the garden and the students were thrilled by their size. We also spotted the first signs of summer crops on some cherry tomato plants. This was an exciting treat as there were enough for each student to pick their own!…

We had a busy end of the school year at Wilton place by closing the lessons with a habitat unit. The students identified the garden as the habitat we have spent learning about over the previous weeks. We talked about how topics such as worms, plant life cycles, composting, bees, are all pieces that come…

We spent the day learning all about compost and why composting is so important. The kids walked around the garden and picked up things they thought we could put in our compost and then we talked about the difference between things we should throw in the trash and things that can decompose. The kids then…

The students were excited to plant seeds this day, but for the first part of class we took the time to learn about the tiny seeds we plant. We talked about how the seed contains everything a seedling needs to sprout and we help it grow when we put the seed in soil and add…

With the changing weather and coming Spring season we’re getting ready to plant new seeds at The Accelerated School. We talked about how different crops love different climates and weather and which ones we can expect to see in the months ahead. The students drew pictures of the different seasonal plants we see in the…

We were lucky enough to wrap up our unit on the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly with the presence of some Monarchs! We talked about why butterflies and pollinators in general are critical to the health and prosperity of gardens and the vitality of all plants. We have also been enjoying the fruits of…

Another rainy day had us inside so the class did a creative activity after learning about how scientists can manipulate seeds to create hybrid fruits and vegetables. The challenge was for the students to work in groups and use their imaginations to create their own hybrid crop! They had to give it a name, draw…

We have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to watch the life cycle of the beautiful Monarch right in The Accelerated School Garden. We observed many more caterpillars but upon further investigation we spotted many chrysalis! We learned about this stage of a butterfly’s life and how their metamorphosis occurs. We’re hoping to catch…

The rain kept us indoors but we used our imaginations to escape outdoors! The students had the opportunity to design their dream garden filled with their favorite fruits, vegetables and flowers. They had to make sure to incorporate all the things plants need to grow: water, soil and sun! Ranger Daphne

We had the beautiful joy of discovering Monarch butterfly caterpillars in TAS garden! They were crawling all over the beds thanks to our milkweed plant, which captured the Monarch’s attention. This was the first class where we learned about the Monarch and the butterfly’s life as a caterpillar. Ranger Daphne

For this lesson we learned that we eat every part of the plant. Vegetables represent different parts of the plant and the students were most surprised to learn that we eat roots! They were also surprised to learn how many vegetables are technically the fruits of plants. The lettuce is growing beautifully during the beginning of…

We took the time to learn about the importance of pollinators and other beneficial insects in the Alta Loma garden. We specifically talked about bees and how we would not have our beautiful garden without their help. Some students expressed their fear of the insects and we said it is okay if we are a…

We were on the hunt for garden insects this week. After learning about beneficials and pests the students used their magnifying glasses to exam plants for critters. We also saw progress in seeds we planted the week before in some empty ground space where the pumpkins used to live. The snow pea seedlings look healthy…

This week we learned all about the different parts of the plant and what plants need to grow! We walked around the garden and noticed our giant squash growing and had a large harvest! The students were so impressed, so of course we cut open some zucchini and squash for taste tests. They were a…

We continued with our composting lesson at TAS by trying to fill out some worksheets from memory. The students had to fill in the blank with things we do and do not compost and what to do with things that we cannot compost. We also walked around the garden and gathered materials to add to…

Lots of new students visited the garden this week! To get to know all the plants growing we walked along the paths for the garden tour. Everything is looking very green and we all got to taste some yellow zucchini! Ranger Daphne

We had lots of fun at TAS learning about what we should and should not include in our compost pile. The students learned quickly and practiced what they learned with a composting worksheet. They colored everything suitable for composting and left the rest blank! Lots of eggplant at TAS as well! The gift…

For our harvest party we made a yummy kale salad freshly picked off the kale trees in the garden! We harvested and added radish, zucchini, mint and basil too. The students worked all together to mix the veggies and dressing of olive oil and some lemon juice! Some students loved the kale and some…

We learned all about the beauty of composting at Alta Loma and lots of vocabulary words to supplement the lesson! After touching and smelling (compost smells great we all decided) the compost out of the Alta Loma tumbler, the students practiced the new vocabulary with a fun word search! And a quick view of the…

We had lots of fun at The Accelerated School playing a garden scavenger hunt for herbs for some tea! The students found lots of basil and mint that we crushed up together to flavor our water and try as a tasty treat! The students discussed the observations they made that distinguish the basil plant from the…

Lots of seedlings were started with The Accelerated School last week. Each class voted on what cool weather crop they wanted to plant and the winners were broccoli, arugula, cauliflower and radish! We all can’t wait to watch the seedlings grow and transplant them into the garden! And we made sure to review the parts…

With all of the digging up at TAS we have been seeing lots of critters so it was time for us to learn the difference between our friends and foes of the garden. Some students found a friendly garden spider crawling on our of our garden beds! And there were lots of veggies harvested by the…

This week we took to learning and talking about what comprises a healthy diet! The younger students drew some beautiful pictures of what they thought a healthy plate would look like while the older students broke down our diet into food groups. And of course we had some beautiful beets and a large zucchini…

I walked into the garden at Alta Loma this week and was welcomed by some beautiful green ground cover that had sprouted in a week! I was also hit with the scent of some green onions ready for harvest. Our guava tree needed to be tied up and I spotted some ripe guava ready for…

The irrigation system is fixed which meant we could finally begin sowing some seeds! Here we have a kinder student with her watermelon radish seeds. The fresh kale we tasted as a treat at the end of class! -Ranger Daphne